Ribbon attachment for type-writing machines



3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

L. D. BOYCE & J. O. THOMPSON. RIBBON ATTACHMENT FOR TYPE WRITING MACHINES.

No. 506,581. T221 Patented Oct. 10,1393. & r I

' (No Model.)

21- V F .ummnu. a": 1 Q

mfme r re 4 I 2 W [4% efafl vi-a r 3,Sl1eet s. Shee t 2. I L. D. BOYCE 8v J. 0. THOMPSON. RIBBON ATTACHMENT FOR TYPE WRITING lS/IAGIHINES. N0. 506,581.

(No Model.)

6) Paten'tedOct. 10, 1893.

mew ford: Iawrenoe ,jgyee. dbmgvfi C. lien am.

(No- Model.)

3 Shets-Sheet 3 L. D. BOYCE 85 J. 0-. THOMPSON.

RIBBON ATTACHMENT FOB. TYPE WRITING MAOHINES. No. 506,581..

I gy Patente-d Oct. 50, 1893. Ex 7 Q'Tfiom A on. y

" UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICE.

' LAWRENCE D. BOYCE, OF BUSH RIVER, AND JOSEPH C. THOMPSON, OF

BALTIMORE,

RIBBON ATTACHMENT FOR MARYLAND.

TYPE-WRITING MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 506,581, dated October 10, 1893.

Application filed December 14, 1892. Serial No. 455,142. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, LAWRENCE D. BOYCE, residing at Bush River, in the countyof Harford, and JOSEPH C. THOMPSON, residing at Baltimore, Maryland, citizens of the United States, have invented new and useful Improvements in Ribbon Attachments for Type- Writing Machines, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to type-Writers, and particularly to that class in which a plurality of ink-ribbons can be employed, each charged with ink of a different color, or character, the ribbon-supports being capable of such adjustment that the ribbon carrying the required ink may be readily broughtjnto proper position for making type-impressions.

It is the purpose of our invention to provide an attachment of this character, capable of being combined with any type-writer wherein the type-bars are arranged in the form of what is ordinarily known as a typebasket, such, for example, as the Remington and Caligraph machines, the application thereto of said attachment being made without material change and requiring no special skill, time, or labor in applying said attachment. It is our purpose, also, to simplify and improve this class of mechanism, and to provide an efficient ribbon-support and guide, having an extended area and provided with separate slots for the ribbons which are charged, or saturated, withinks of different colors, or qualities, whereby the space within which. the type-impressions are made is-limited in length and the ribbons are held and guided in their feed-movement without danger of being brought into marginal, or other contact, by which the difierently colored inks might be transferred, or absorbed, by either or both ribbons, to such an extent as to serition applied to a Remington type-writer.

Fig. 2 is an end elevation, of the machine shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detail View of the duplex reel shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the ribbons being removed. Fig. 4 is a detail front elevation of one of the reel-adjusting devices. Fig. 5 is a plan view of the same, detached from the machine. 1 Fig. 6 is an end View of part of the frame of a type writer known in the market as the Smith Premier machine. Fig. 7 is a perspective view of one .of the shifting and ribbon-supporting devices conforming to our invention, with such modifications as are necessary for the special adaptation.

' In the said drawings the reference-numeral 1 indicates the upper portion of the frame of the type-writer, within which the type-basket 2 is contained.

As the type-bars, type, and type-impressing devices, as well as the paper-cylinder, the letter-space, and line-feed are all perfectly familiar to those skilled in the art, a description and illustration of said parts is unnecessary for the purposes of the present application.

Depending from the frame 1 at points diametrically opposite each other, or nearly so, are drop-brackets 3 in which are journaled shafts 4, having their axes substantially parallel. Upon these shafts we spline duplex reels, each consistingof a body, 5, preferably formed of wood, and provided with three flanges, or circular plates, 6, of substantially uniform diameter,-parallel with each other and concentric with the body 5. Two of these flanges are mounted upon, or near, the extremities of the body 5, and the third is arranged between the end flanges. The body 5 is thus divided into two substantially equal spaces 7 and 8, separated by the central flange 6. In one of these spaces, as 7, is wound a ribbon 9, and in the other, 8, is similarly wound a separate ribbon 10. After crossing the type-basket 2, said ribbons are'received by and wound upon a second 6 uplexreel contoe structed, in all material respects, in the manner already described in connection with the reel shown in Fig. 3. Rotary movement is given to said reels by the mechanism ordinarily used in this class of type-writers. The shafts 1 are of such length that the reels may be adjusted thereon in the direction of the length of the shaft in such manner as to bring either one, of the ribbons 7, or 8, into such position. that the type-impressions will be made with the ink upon one ribbon,the other being, by the same adjustment, removed entirely from the area within which the type act. The means whereby said ribbons are supported, guided, and'prevented from coming in contact, together with the reel-adjusting. devices, will now be explained.

Adjacent to the under surface of the upperv frame 1 of the machine, and in substantial parallelism with the reel-supporting shafts 4, are arranged. narrow bars 12, each provided with longitudinalslots 13, arranged upon opposite sides of an intermediate solid portion 14. Through these slots 13 are inserted screws 15, tapped into the said frame 1, the heads of said screws providing a support for said bars, while the slots 13 permit a longitudinal movement of the same, for a purpose presently to be explained.

From the solid portion 14 of the bar 12, depends awire 16 the ends of which are rigidly fastened to said bar. From the points of attachment the ends of said wires extend downward a short distance and then toward the frontand rear, and thendownward,toa pointa little below the shaft 4. Said wire is then bent suitably to form angular portions 16*, which will be closely adjacent to the outer faces of the end-flanges 6. Said wires are then brought upward in front of the bar 12 and at a little distance therefrom, in similar portions 17, which are extended upward through openings 18 in the frame 1, to a point a little above the upper surface of the said frame. Here said wire extends, with an upward inclination, toward the center of the type-basket. At the proper point the said upwardly inclined portions 19 are connected by an integral, transverse portion 20, to which is rigidly attached, by solder or otherwise, a flat, ribbon-supporting and guiding plate 21. This plate lies horizontally, or nearly so, and its end, which projects over the type-basket, is preferably somewhat broader than the end ttached to the transverse portion 20, of the wire supporting said plate. -The length'of the-latter is such that its broader end extends about to a point halfway between the center and inner margin of the type-basket. Near the edge of said plate are formed two separate ribbon-slots 22 and 23, separated by an intermediate portion, of metal 24. The extreme marginal portion 25 of said plate, is raised, by upwardly inclining those portions which connect the said margin-25 to the main body. The ribbons 7 and 8., are led through said slots 22 and 23, beneath the raised marginal part 25, and are drawn across the central portion of the type-basket, passed beneath the raised margin 25 of a second and similar supporting-plate, arranged upon the opposite side of the vertical axis of the type-basket, and drawn over the flat surface of said plate. Thence they pass over the transverse portion 20 of the wire support, and are carried downward through the opening 18 in the frame 1, to the reel 5. By this constructionboth ribbons may be brought closer to the surface of the paper without danger of smutting it, and I the ribbons are'effectually prevented from contact, either marginal or otherwise, which might easily result in the absorption of ink by one from the other of said ribbons.

In the forward end of the barrl2 is formed ashort slot, oropening, 26, in which lies the end of a shifting-lever consisting of astraight bar 27, having its fulcrum 28 at its lower end upon one of the posts 1, which support the upper frame 1. From the upper portion of said lever 27 a finger 29 projects toward the front of the type-writer, its end having a curve, or other suitable construction, by which the lever maybe operated. By swinging the said lever in either direction, the bar- 12 is caused to slide in the direction of its length upon the heads. of the supporting screws '15, carrying the ribbon -supporting plates 21 with it and at the sametime producing an adjustment of equal extent of the reel 5 upon its shaft 4, by means of the angular portions 16 of the wire rigidly attached to the slide-bar 12. The length of the adjustment thus made is limited by the length of the slots 13, in the bar 12.

In order that the ribbon-adjustment thus described, may be synchronous upon both sides of the type-basket, the fulcrum 28 of the lever 27, may consist of the end of arockshaft 30 journaled in the two front posts 1,

and extending across the front of the machine, the lever being keyed, or otherwise rigidly mounted, upon the projecting end of the shaft. The lever 27, slide-bar 12, together with its adjuncts, is duplicated upon the other sideof the machine, the second lever being connected to the slide-bar 12 in the same manner as the first, and being also keyed upon the end of the rock-shaft 30 whereby the operation of either lever produces a simultaneous operation of the other, also, and to an equal extent. The slide-bars- 12 are held, at any point to which they are adjusted, by a spring-latch 12, the movable end of which engages a ratch, or series of teeth 31, (see Fig. 5) formed upon the edge of the solid, intermediate portion 14:. of each of the slide-bars 12.

1n order to illustrate the ease and simplicity of the constructive modifications whereby our invention may be adapted to type-writing machines of other form, we have shown, in Figs. 6 and 7, those parts of the Smith Pree mier machine. which are essential to be shown in order to give a clear understanding upon posts 1 The operative parts of this machine, like those of the Remington, Caligraph, and oth-' ers, are so well known as to call for no specific description, in thisapplication. -More-' over, our invention is not dependent upon any special form of type-impressing mechanism; the sole essential requirement being that the types shall strike successively within a space, or area, lying Within the limits of one of the ink-ribbons, when the same to its operative position.

The machine referred to usually ink-ribbonl similar to that shown in Figs.

plays no part in our inve'ntion,-an'd wewill therefore make no reference'to'it.

In order to provide a ribbon carrying ink of a different color,or quality, from that cont-ained in the ordinary ribbon 10, we make an extension, or prolongation, of the ribbon-reel,

' able distance below the said reel, at which of such width as to accommodatea comparatively narrow ribbon 10 separated from the ribbon 10-by a collar, or flange, 32, and held upon the reel by an e'nd-collar,-or flange 33. The reel is carried, or supported, by a reelshaft 34, having suitable'journal-support in. boxes upon the posts 1*,upon each side of the type-basket. r

In order to shift the'reel, for the purposes of our invention, we provide the ribbon-supporting and guiding plate 21, having the two ribbon-slots 22 and 23, said plate being sub stantially similar, in all respects, to the ribbon'supporting plate 21, shown in Fig. 5, save in the relative width of the slots 22 and 23,-

The plate 21, shown in Fig. 7, is mounted upon, or attached, at its narrower end, to the upper edge .of a plate 35, which drops, or hangs, a'short distance below the point of at tachment, and isthen curved in such manner as to carry said plate around the inner side of the reel, and beneaththe same, at a suitpoint the extremity of said plate, which is diminished to a suitable width,is turned straight downward, or substantially so, and provided with a vertical slot 36, preferably open at its lower end for a purpose presently to be 'ex-- lower ends are brought slightly toward each other, openings '38 being formed in each to receive the reel-shaft 34, The ends containing said openings lie against, or closely adjacent to, the ends of the ribbon-reel, as shown in Fig. '6.

is shifted carries an which is supported, and the pivotal connec* tion maintained, by-a swinging bar'42, connected at its upper end to the same pivot '40 and at its lower end supported upon a pivot-pin43. The shifting-bar 41 is provided with a longitudinal slot 44,t-hrough which:

passes a supporting stud, or pin, 45, rigidly fixed in the front post 1 and providedwith a cross-head by which the shifting-bar is held in engagement with said stud. In the forward end of the slot 44, a notch 46is formed,

capable of engaging the stud 45, when the bar'is pushed to the rear, whereby the ribbonreel is held againstthe tension of the spring 47. A button 48 is mounted upon the shiftjing-bari'4l to facilitate its operation. v

1 and 2, but of considerably greater width: i The method of feeding this ribbon, both lon-' gitudinally and laterally, is well known, andv .The inking-ribbomproper, is fedbothlatei-ally and longitudinally in this classof typewriters, and the lateral, ortransve'rse feed of ;the said ribbon is substantiallyequalto its width, during each line of type-impressions. Our invention does not, in any respect,inter-v Lfere with this feed, but when the colored ribbon: 10 is to be used, the shifting 'bar 41 is operated by pushing it toward the rear until the notch 46 at the forward end of its slot 44 engages the stud 45. By this movement the reel carrying the two ribbons ismoved toward the rear far enough to bring the narrow ribb01110 into the line of type-impressions;-

the engagement of the notch 46 and stud 45 the transverse movement of the spool is prevented and" the type are compelled to make impact upon the longitudinal line of the colored ribbon 10. As .the ribbon 10 is of the ordinary width used inthese machines, and inasmuch as the space-feed and the transverse ribbon-feed combined therewith are so graduated that the latter shall cover no more than the width of the ordinary ribbon 10, thereis no danger of the colored ribbon 10 'beingbrought within reach of the type.

Having thus described ourinvention,'wha we claim, and desire to secure byLetters Patent of the United States, is

1." In a type-writer, the combination with parallel shafts upon opposite sides of the type-basket, of duplex ribbon-reels splined and movable upon said"shaft's, slide-bars ar ranged in substantial parallelism with said shafts and capable of a longitudinal'adjustment, wiresdepending from said slide-bars and bent to form angular portions lyingadjacent to the outer faces of thendflanges of said reels, and thence rising through and above the upper frame of the machine, flat ribbon-supporting plates rigidly attached-to a transverse portion of said wire and project-1 ing to points upon opposite sides of the cen'- ter of the type-basket between said center and the inner margin thereof, the'adjacent ends of said plates being provided with trans-' ink-ribbons drawn over the flat surfaces' of Verse slots, separate from each'othelg'separatesaid plates, through said slots and beneath the raised margins, or ends, of said plates, and means for adjusting the slide-bars, in opposite directions, substantially as described.

2. In a type-writer, the combination with parallel shafts arranged upon opposite sides of the type-basket, of duplex reels turning with and adjustable longitudinally upon said shafts, slide bars having slots to receive screws tapped into the lower surface of the upper frame and supporting said slide-bars by their heads, flat ribbon -supporting and guiding plates rigidly connected to said bars by wires dropping below and having parts adjacent to the ends of the reels, their ends being turned upward and rigidly connected to said slide-bars, a plurality of ink-ribbons carried from the separate divisions of one of the duplex reels over the flat upper faces of the ribbon-supporting plates through separate slots formed in the adjacent ends thereof and beneath the raised marginal parts, or ends of said plates'which are projected to points between the center and the opposite sides of the type-basket, said ribbons being thence brought down to the other duplex reel, and a lever having its lower end fulcrumed and its upper end lying in a slot in the end of one of the slide-bars, substantially as described.

3. In a type-writer an attachment for carrying, guiding and shifting a plurality ofinkribbons charged with inks of different color,

or quality, the same consisting of a flat, prolonged plate, rigidly connected at one end to a wire rising somewhat above the upper frame, and itsother endprovided with separate ribbon-slots, and a raised margin, or end, which lies between the center and side of the type-basket, a slide-bar attachable to and adjustable longitudinally upon the upper frame and forming a support for the ends of the wire supporting the ribbon-plate, said wire being bent at, or near, each angle of said plate, laterally and downward, and thence bentvertically to lie next the ends of a duplex ribbon-reel and carried upward to be attached at its ends to the slide-bar, substantially as described.

4. In a type-writer, a ribbon-supporting and guiding plate, extending horizontally from a point above the duplex ribbon-reel to a point near the center of the type-basket, its end being provided with two separate slots for two separate ribbons carrying different inks, said plate being mounted at its outer end upon a support moving with the duplex ribbonreel, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands and affixed our seals in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LAWRENCE D. BOYCE. L. s. JOSEPH O. THOMPSON. L. s. Witnesses: VINCENT M. KEARNS, WM. H. J ONES. 

